At their informal meeting on Friday 28 July in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, the EU health ministers defined the basic principles for building open strategic autonomy in the EU in the field of medicines and medical devices.
“The ministers undertook to work together to build this Europe of health”, José Manuel Miñones, the Spanish minister who chaired the meeting, told the press.
Mr Miñones pointed out that the Covid-19 pandemic had shown that centralised vaccine purchasing was “a very positive experience which has opened the door to the search for new methods of financing”.
The health ministers stressed the need for medicines and medical devices to be available in all regions of the EU, with diversified supply chains, according to the Spanish minister.
An initial document has been presented to the ministers on this subject, and the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council hopes to present a more comprehensive document on this open strategic autonomy in October.
The European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, acknowledged that the Covid-19 pandemic had revealed vulnerabilities in EU supply chains, “which we are working with Member States to address”.
In her view, one needs to strengthen resilience, reduce medicine shortages and ensure that medical devices and essential products are available to all citizens at all times.
The ‘Pharmaceutical Reform’ aims to achieve this, by providing for an initial list of critical medicines in the Union and an EU alert system for monitoring shortages. “We are also open to reflect on long term measures to ensure availability of medicines such as a Critical Medicines Act”, said the Commissioner.
The ministers discussed Digital Health. José Manuel Miñones spoke about the protection of personal health data. Managing this data will enable new products and services to be developed, insisted the Spanish minister.
The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of electronic health data and digital tools such as telemedicine.
The EU Digital Covid Certificate was a central element of the EU’s response to the pandemic. It has become a global standard, and the fact that it is now used by the WHO as a global framework for improving digital health is proof of its success, according to the Commission.
The European Health Data Space proposal aims to bring the benefits of digital health to all EU citizens, said Ms Kyriakides. The European Health Data Space will also create a solid legal framework enabling policy-makers, researchers and industry to use health data to accelerate the development of new treatments, medical devices or next-generation antibiotics. “The aim is to pave the way for a future role for artificial intelligence in healthcare. We have already started to do this, for example through the European Cancer Imaging Initiative, which will make it possible to better detect and treat cancer”, explained the Commissioner.
Mental Health. Spain has proposed that its ‘024 suicide prevention hotline’ should operate throughout the EU. According to Mr Miñones, mental health needs to be addressed in all policies. He called for uniform action at EU level and suggested that the focus should be on young people and the most vulnerable groups.
The Commission has adopted a communication on this subject setting out 20 flagship actions to improve the promotion of mental health and access to treatment and care, with Community funding of €1.2 billion (see EUROPE 13196/1). A conference will be held in Spain on 10 October which is World Mental Health Day. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)